Prepared for the Future of Finance? The Need for Collaboration and Infrastructure Reform | Plane Saver Credit Union’s Chief Operating Officer, Gurminder Bhagrath
By Lauren Hinton · 22 May 2025
In this candid interview, Gurminder Bhagrath, COO at Plane Saver Credit Union, explains the problems facing traditional banks and the wider financial sector in a very honest way.
The interview touches on everything from economic volatility and increasing interest rates, to outdated infrastructure. Gurminder explains that the combined impact of the pandemic, disruptions in geopolitics, and the effect of inflation in the economy, are exposing that legacy banking systems have limits. For example, where nothing was ever a cause for concern with mortgage holders previously considered as safe borrowers, costs are now pinching monthly and forcing institutions to reassess creditworthiness and lending.
But this is not just an economic issue. It is also a contributory systemic problem; there’s a broken back-office system where the financial system has moved slowly into the digital age. Gurminder highlights that this will continue until large banks and community finance providers - in the form of credit unions and CDFIs - collaborate to rebuild.